Middle East

In the run-up to Turkey’s local elections on 30 March, tensions are
rising. The death of the latest victim of police violence has triggered
another mass uprising. The authoritarian and corrupt government is
trying to cling on to power by fostering division – by stepping up state
repression against opposition activists and by encouraging its own
supporters by means of provocations.

The way in which Erdoğan is clinging on to power regardless of the cost
is causing outrage. On 11 March, Berkin Elvan, the eighth victim of
police violence, lost his fight for life. Berkin Elvan was on his way to
get bread for breakfast on 16 June when he was hit in the head by a
pepper-spray round. For 269 days, he fought for his life and on his 15th
birthday he was in a coma. His murderers, just like those other
perpetrators all other victims of state violence, are still free.

As the tragic news came through, another wave of anger at the government
and at Prime Minister Erdoğan spread throughout Turkey. Demonstrations
were called for the evening. But people began to gather in the morning.
For example, a man carried out a sit-down protest on the steps leading
into a park in the centre of Ankara. He sat down on the steps with a
piece of bread and waited silently for hours. Within a short time, many
people gathered around him. By the afternoon, there were several
thousand. At the same time, students in many universities boycotted
lectures and made their way to the city centre. A group of 5,000
students for METU (Technical University of the Middle East) were
attacked on their way by the police. Although the demonstration was not
due to start until 6.30pm, there were already thousands of people at the
location by 3pm. With a mixture of sadness, anger and disgust in their
faces, more and more people from all layers of society gathered –
individually and in groups. University students, school students,
industrial workers, office staff, left groups, Kurds and Alawites all
joined together to chant: “The murderous state must be brought to
account”, “Berkin’s murderer is the AKP’s police” or “Erdoğan,
murderer!”By the time the police attacked from all sides, it was not
even 6pm yet. First there was a single bang, and then another, and then
a whole series of bangs like the sound of fireworks on New Year’s Eve.
The crowd, which had been attacked without warning, ran into the clouds
of smoke which blocked their escape routes and quickly covered the whole
square. Running through traffic in the surrounding streets, people tried
to protect their heads from the hails of gas pellets coming down from
above, while running away. The police carried out merciless terror. It
all happened in a matter of seconds. Cries could be heard, as well as
the sounds of coughing and panicking people. After running for a while,
the crowd had dispersed everywhere. A kind of running battle developed
between the police and some young protestors, and continued late into
the night.

The following day, 11 March, Berkin was buried. Hundreds of thousands of
people attended his funeral in Istanbul. Directly after the burial of
the youngest victim of the ‘Gezi rebellion’, there were further acts of
police terror. The crowd was attacked with the same methods and more
street battles with the police took place. Many people were injured and
arrested.

Erdoğan’s dangerous tactics

Since the Gezi uprising, nothing has been the way it was before. In many
ways, Erdoğan has suffered setbacks. His reputation as being invincible
has been severely damaged by week-long mass protests. In addition to
this, there were a number of revelations of major corruption scandals
which lead to the resignation of four of his ministers. Behind these
revelations, which caused a crisis of the state, is a bitter struggle
between the government and its former ally, the ‘Gülen network’, named
after the preacher Fetullan Gülen. He lives in the USA and represents a
section of the Turkish bourgeoisie, through which it has influence in
key areas of the police and justice system. While the government and the
Gülen network, which Erdoğan refers to as a “parallel state”, trading
blows, more dirt is coming to the surface. Every day new audio
recordings of conversations are revealed, making the scale of the
scandal ever clearer. In of these recordings, a telephone conversation
between Erdoğan and his son, Erdoğan is heard informing his son about a
police raid on the sons of ministers and advising him to get remove
money from his home. It is clear from the conversation that the money
belongs to Erdoğan and that the sums in question are very large. After
further phone calls, Erdoğan’s son tells the prime minister that only
the ‘small’ sum of 30 million euros remained.

There is a strong opposition mood against Erdoğan. As he is fearful that
his opponents – the working class or sections of the ruling class – will
hold him to account, Erdoğan cannot afford to back down. While Erdoğan
cracks down on protests with increasing brutality, at the same time, he
is taking steps to concentrate even more power in his hands. New laws
give him control over the justice system. Investigations against army
generals and members of the MIT intelligence services cannot be
terminated without his permission. A new telecommunications body gives
Erdoğan the opportunity for easier censorship, if he sees it as
necessary.

There is a re-alignment underway among the ruling class. Until recently,
the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party) party was part of a
common front with the Gülen network, the employers’ associations, such
as MÜSIAD and TUSKON, the so-called Anatolian bourgeoisie. The Kemalist
opposition party, the CHP (Republican People’s Party), the military and
the association of the old bourgeoisie, TÜSIAD, made up the opposing
front. It was the AKP which gained significant support in 2010 from a
wide spectrum of left-liberal intellectuals and layers of society,
because it stood up against the power of the military. In this context,
a large number of people, including former members of the army general
staff, were arrested and tried in the so-called Ergenekon trials, and
last summer were sentenced to life in prison. While Erdoğan cast himself
as a kind of public prosecutor, the CHP styled itself as the defence
lawyer in this dispute. Now it is becoming clear that the wind can turn
in the completely opposite direction, when the power of the ruling class
is at stake.

Confronted with an increasingly radicalised mass movement and a new
alliance of the Gülen movement and the CHP, the AKP is jumping into bed
with the army and state forces. Since Berkin’s death, no military or
police personnel are in jail. All of them, including murderers with the
blood of Kurds and left activists on their hands, have been set free.

At the same time, Erdoğan is trying to shore up his base by means of
fostering division. A few weeks ago, the CHP leader warned of rumours
that the AKP will seek to escalate the situation by way of faked
terrorist attacks and thus maybe even make elections impossible. The
evening after Berkin’s funeral, a young AKP supporter was shot dead
under very mysterious circumstances. Even though a left wing
organisation claimed responsibility, this was clearly a provocation.
During one of his election rallies, Erdoğan called Berkin a terrorist
and incited the audience to boo the victim’s mother. He described the
dead AKP supporter a “martyr”.

Where now for Turkey?

One thing is certain: The question is not if, but when Erdoğan will go.
There is already a crisis of the state and the legal system is widely
seen as bankrupt even. President Abdullah Gul challenged Erdoğan’s ban
on twitter after the prime minister said he would “wipe out” the
service, which he claims spread allegations of corruption in his ruling
circles.

Many people speculate whether the elections at the end of March will
take place or not. The government is trying to use censorship, increased
state violence and undemocratic laws to sustain its power. It is
preparing a major offensive, not just against the movement, but also
against the opposing faction of the capitalist class.

Despite the fact that the opposition is becoming more radicalised by the
day, the AKP still retains the largest support among the population, not
least because of the relative stability of the economy. But they will
suffer losses. The question is how much their vote will decrease by. It
is very likely that there will be an early general election. Only this
could temporarily calm the situation as it has been since the Gezi
uprising because people will adopt a “wait and see” attitude. But all of
this is still undecided.

Kurds

For one year there have been no armed engagements in the Kurdish areas.
This has had positive effects for the mass protests, making it harder
for the regime to play the divide and rule card.

Up until now, the government has undertaken no steps towards improving
rights for Kurds. Yet the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) has given the
government time to act until the elections. It is very clear that the
government will not be able to take steps towards a peaceful resolution
of the Kurdish question and that the PKK will declare the negotiations
have failed. It is also to be expected that the PKK will not opt for a
return to armed struggle – which would have negative consequences for
the mass movement in Turkey - but will put its faith in a mass movement
in Kurdistan.

The Left is on the front line of the protest movement but its lack of
political perspectives and programme prevents it from giving the
movement clear direction. It is an accurate summary to say that the Left
embraced the movement but the masses have not yet embraced the Left.
However it is possible that there could be new developments in this
regard after the local elections on 30th March.

These polls will be the first stage of significant political events
which will play out in Turkey over the next few months and even years.

It is vital that the Left is built in this process, so workers and youth
find the best possible way to build the workers’ movement. Marxist ideas
are needed in this process to build towards a mass party, rooted in the
working class, to show a way out of the nightmare of capitalism and
repression.